Gippal's Point Of View

I left Rikku's room feeling awful. She didn't cry when her mother had died, nor when Home was destroyed, but I had made her cry twice in one week's time. How the Hell did I manage that?

Walking towards my own apartment was long and lonesome only accompanied by my thoughts.

"Gippal!" An angry sounding voice, a males, came from behind me.

I cringed. Slowly I turned my head and saw not one, not two, not even three but four angry men coming after me. Tidus, Wakka, Baralia, and Nooj.

"What in all of Spira were you thinking? Weren't you the one who said that he never wanted to hurt the love of his life? That's all you ever talked about during the Crimson Squad!" Nooj raised his eyebrow high as he asked this, although you could see that he was very angry with me.

He did have a point, but I said nothing.

"Hey, you hurt Rikku. We all know Brother is useless, so I'll be taking over the big brother role and beat the crap out of you now. Who the Hell do you think you are to be able to hurt Rikku like that? Do you ever think of anyone but yourself or does your brain only process things about you?" Tidus came up and nearly took out my other eye but Wakka stopped him and told him now was not the time.

Baralai was next to scold me. "Gippal, we know you love her, but why did you do what you did?" He always the one for words not actions…but his words hurt more than any of the others.

"Are you actually going to listen or just keep yelling?" I lowered my head both in defeat and shame. Nice, take a huge blow to your pride.

"We'll listen." There was a tone in his voice that made it sound that he's only saying it to keep the peace. Once again one for words not actions.

"Cid wants grandkids. He wants them sooner rather than later. Rikku's his best bet and you all know I'd rather not watch her get married to some other man, so I've been courting her for the last few days. How am I supposed to defend myself against that now? You may kill me if you want now…" I let out the breath I did not know I was holding, waiting.

But nothing came…

I looked and saw that they were looking at me with disbelief. "What? You don't believe me?"

The shook their heads and walked over towards me. "I can't picuture this, but I'm pretty sure that he's telling the truth…" Nooj told everyone his opinion, which I am grateful for having at least one person on my side.

"Have you told her what you have told us?" Wakka asked me. He reminded me of what, if he was a bit older, Rikku would consider like a second father. He really did fit the part nicely. Maybe few tips on being a good father…No! Now is not the time to think about this!

"More or less…" I thought back to Rikku pinned on top of me, and not in the good way, ready to slight my throat with one wrong move. "Well I tried to…It didn't work out in my favor and now I'm sure she's going to kill me."

Everyone tensed around me. They seemed to get that she, was indeed, going to kill me. "Maybe you should talk to Yuna or Cid?" Tidus gave me a hopeful smile. His attitude did a complete one eighty in the matter of seconds.

"Or you could talk to both. Maybe both of their impute will help." Baralia's thoughts did make sense, but I'm pretty sure Yuna would kill me…

"Okay I'll talk to them both tomorrow after they both have time to talk to her, that is if I'm still alive…" I cringed at the thought.

"I'll talk to Yuna tonight. I'm sure Rikku and her are both chatting it up right now as we speak." Tidus gave me an awkward pat on the shoulder.

All of them nodded their heads and began to leave, but Tidus stayed back a little longer.

He walked up to me and motioned that he had to tell me something secret. I moved in slightly forward to I could hear him. "Gippal, Rikku is in love with you. When she was staying on Besaid with Yuna and me, she would sit there and talk to herself when she didn't think anyone was home. She talked about you all the time. I was worried about her, but when you were brought back into her life she became happy again.

"Right now she doesn't know that you actually lover her like you claim you do. She believes your only doing this as a joke or just to help Cid out. Give her time and space and show her that you really care."

"Damn…Didn't think you could sound that smart…" I have him a half hearted smile, knowing he would get that I was grateful.

"Any time." He smiled towards me sadly and jogged off to catch up with the rest of them.

"Yevon…Life sucks." I mumbled to myself and began walking towards my apartment once again.

The rest of that night was uneventful. I sat there wondering about Rikku the whole night hoping that she would give me the time of day when I tried to talk to her…Yeah right. Like she'll ever give you the time of day after what you did to her. You'll be lucky if she gives you the finger in twenty years!

I had a battle with my conscience the whole night, leaving me up most of the night. I do have to say that it did have some very good points though…

When I woke up the next morning, or the same morning, whichever way you like to think of it, it was six A.M. That was not the time to go walking around New Home and go looking for answers on how to make things better for Rikku.

So, once again, I got to sit in my bed and think. Most of my plans had to do with me talking to both Yuna and Cid. I did not want to think of Rikku and how much I had hurt her. It only brought more pain and terrible feeling that she'll never forgive me. You better pray that she forgives you or you'll be a lonely old man! Like Rin!

I cringed at my thoughts.

Some of the ideas I had with Yuna involved her killing me and the one s I had with Cid involved him telling me he wished me dead because I hurt his baby girl. They both seemed rather accurate to me, and it scared the crap out of me.

Most men thought just asking a woman to marry them is difficult, but trying to get her to say yes is harder. If only I knew that sooner rather than later… "These next few days of my life are going to be hell." I grumbled to myself before I got up and started to get ready for my day."

By the time I was showered and fed it was 8:30. Cid would be up and working by now making him my first stop. Also the fact that I believe that I have a more likely chance of living by talking to him first….

I walked to his office and did not run into one person. I wouldn't be so sure that that's a good or a bad thing yet…

Sighing one last breath, I knocked on the door… I was scared. No I was scared shitless. How in Spira was I supposed to not be though? I'm talking to the girl I loves father about how I hurt her… Not the brightest thing a man could do.

"Come in." Cid's voice came through the door.

I opened the door slowly, walking in twice as slowly. "Cid, I wanted to-"

"Gippal, you hush and take a seat." He was in business mode, scaring me even more. "Now I know last night didn't go as we planned," he started once I sat down. "But you're getting married to my daughter in two months."

My jaw hit the floor. "Did Rikku agree to this?"

"Well, not yet, but I'm making you the next Elder in six months and you have to be married to my daughter, so she's gonna live with it!" Cid was getting angry.

"Don't you think that you should talk to Rikku first? I mean she does wanta big wedding, and large weddings take years to get ready…" I trailed off hoping he would get the point. He's the Elder. He can talk to anyone and make them do something that takes three years to do and have it done in three months. What makes you think he can't do that for a wedding? Yevon, I hated it when my conscience was right…

He didn't.

"Boy. Two months is the latest I'll go. I want my daughter pregnant by the time you become Elder as well. I need you to do this for me." Cid was talking business once again. There was no way I could get him to change his mind. Rikku is gonna hate me forever now…

"And if I don't want to?" Maybe if I threaten him a little…?

"She'll be married to the next eligible man. She will be married in two months, Gippal. Whether it is you or not is the question. Now get out!"

I shot up out of my chair and dashed for the door. I was not about to have him marry off Rikku to some man I didn't know or who wasn't me. That would kill me more than her ignoring me…

I allowed my heart to calm down before I even thought of going to find Yuna. Maybe if I explained to her about the situation, she'd know what to do…Hopefully…

"Crap…" I mumbled to myself. Yuna didn't live in Bikinal, she was in a hotel and they didn't care who you were, if you weren't the people you were looking for they wouldn't give you the information…

"I guess I'll just have to go door to door, or I could just walk about in the hot sun and find her…" I thought over both of those possibilities and thought that the one with the air conditioning sounded better.

Okay, I'll be the first to admit that not all of my plans are the smartest but at least they get the job done.

I started off to the hotel and worked my way from the bottom up. I asked multiple people if they had seen Yuna today or knew where she was…Not one person had. Sometimes this girl was harder to track down than Rikku, and that's saying a lot.

I was on the top floor of the hotel with two rooms left. Both of them were maids' quarters. "How come I can't find her?" I yelled angrily at myself.

"Son, have you tried the CommSpear?" An elderly women asked.

Yevon, how could I have been so stupid? Why hadn't I thought of that nearly six hours ago? That would have been so much easier then walking around the hotel trying to find her. "No, I hadn't. Thank you so much for your help." I gave the women a friendly smile and dashed to my apartment. I needed to talk to Yuna ASAP!

I made it to my room in what should have been record time. Panting greatly I found my CommSpear.

"Hello?" Yuna's face appeared before me.

"Yuna! Thank Yevon! I need to talk to you. What's the fastest time that we'll be able to talk to one another?" I sighed a sigh of relief.

"Gippal, I don't think we should be talking…You hurt my best friend."

"That's what I need to talk to you about! Please, I want to make things better." I would have gotten down on my knees to prove my point if I needed to.

"The earliest I can talk to you is later tonight, like close to midnight. I'm going to be with Rikku most of the night trying to calm her down. It better be good or I don't think you'll ever like me again." She shook her head and disconnected on me.

All I had to do now is wait.

Hey everyone! I'm sorry for the long wait! I've been doing others things that have been preventing me from beging able to write this. I promise I will try harder to get at least one chapter in once a month.

Anywho, heres the next chapter. Please tell me what you think: good or bad reviews are welcome :) I'm sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes, I don't have a editor. If you would like to take this job just e-mail me.